


Yet another Max and Daniel prompt fill collection

by greeny1710



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Military, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Glasses kink, Implied Mpreg, Insecurities, Jealousy, M/M, Mild Language, Other drivers and relationships will probably be added over time, Possessive Behavior, Prompt filling, Unrequited Love, i found a list and ya boi is filling it, tags will constantly change so keep an eye on author notes for any triggering content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-21
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2020-03-10 03:16:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18930187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeny1710/pseuds/greeny1710
Summary: Just a collection of drabbles and short fics revolving around Max and Daniel





	1. Choose Me

**Author's Note:**

> I’m new to writing about these lads and posting these fics gives me a lot of anxiety as it’s not anything like I used to write. But formula 1 is my everything and ya boi needed a way to procrastinate doing university work. So hopefully expect semi-frequent uploads?? If people like these?? 
> 
> —————————
> 
> All the stories do stand-alone, unless otherwise stated in the author notes / titles :)
> 
> —————————
> 
> This first chapter is actually based on another idea I had for something else, and I kinda just threw this together instead because that other idea required too much brain power and I liked this little thing instead :)

Max kept giggling.

Giggling.

Daniel didn’t even think Max knew how to giggle. And here Max was, constantly on his phone, giggling and texting like he was a teenager again. Yes, Daniel knew his former teammate was only twenty-one, but Max had grown up a lot in recent years and sometimes he seemed older than his years. 

“Alright, Maxy?” Daniel peered over Max’s shoulder, catching a glimpse of a name with a heart next to it before Max quickly locked his phone and shoved it back into his pocket. 

“Hey, Dan, what’s up?”

“Oh, nothing much,” Daniel grinned, causing Max to look worried at the slightly feral look on Daniel’s face, “Just noticed that you’re giggling like a schoolboy. And keep checking your phone. What’s going on there? Who is she?”

Max shrugged and shook his head.

“You don’t know ‘em. Don’t worry about it.”

“But you’re blushing! C’mon, I’m your best friend. Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell - OW!”

Daniel held his arm protectively away from Max, not wanting to get punched again.

“Serves you right,” Max grinned, “So any upgrades to warn me about? Engine going to continue working? Mirrors been made bigger?”

The two of them laughed, settling back against the railing of the drivers parade bus and waving at people. 

“The only upgrade you need to worry about is whether I’m gonna buy you a half or a full pint of beer later.”

“Can’t, sorry mate. Got plans after the race,” Max apologized to Dan, and Daniel noticed that he did look a bit upset to have to cancel their post-race drink. It had become something of a tradition for them to grab a drink together since Daniel had moved to Renault, still gripping onto that friendship they’d formed.

“Oh, no worries man. You’ll just have to make it up to me next time.”

“Sure, I’ll even buy the round of shots.”

They laughed again, as Max held his hand out to shake Daniel’s.

But that next drink got cancelled. And the one after that. And the one after that too. 

—————

“Sorry to keep cancelling on you, Dan. I’ll make it up to you, I promise. European races have been a bit of a time-squeeze lately. Drink tonight? I’ll even surprise you.”

“Home-race, Maxy, sure you’ve got the time?”

“Always got time for you, baby,” Max laughed, and Daniel’s stomach fluttered at the stupid nickname.

“You better, _sweetheart_.”

And there was that stupid giggle that started all these feelings off. 

“See you tonight, normal place?”

They agreed and put the phone down. They probably wouldn’t see each other now until well after the race, when they were holed up in a little booth in some out of the way bar Max’s mum had told them about when Max had completed the Belgian race for the first time with Red Bull. A baby-faced driver who Daniel wanted to protect and guide through F1, and now he was a man who Daniel didn’t entirely know what he wanted to do to, but it definitely wasn’t the pure feelings of platonic love it used to be. 

When the race was over, Daniel got through his press duties as quick as possible, and then got back to his hotel to shower and get all the grime of the race off him. Daniel rifled through his suitcase. Eventually he settled on a white shirt and black jeans. 

He needed to look good tonight. He wanted to look good for Max. Tonight was the night he’d tell Max about this change in feelings, about how he missed him, and about how he wanted more. This was a good day for both of them, Max had won the race, his home race just adding another sense of glory, and Daniel had finished fourth, his highest result to date following an early crash between Lewis and Sebastian allowing him to nip through and get p4. 

When he got to the bar, Max wasn’t there yet but Daniel wasn’t surprised. Max had never turned up on time, even when Daniel had used to meet with Max in the hotel before going to the bar, Max would still find a way to run late. It was a part of Max that Daniel had grown to love, along with a lot of other things about him. Daniel ordered himself a drink, grabbed another for Max and headed over to their usual seat, tucked away in the corner in a table, just out of the way of everyone else but not too far that getting to the bar required body-smashing people out the way. 

Daniel sunk into the seat and pulled his phone out when he felt it vibrate against his leg.

Maxy-Moo  
  
Promise I'm on my way! just running late lol  
  
no problem man, beers chilling for you already  
  
You, Ricciardo, are an angel   
  


Daniel smiled to himself and ducked his head. The more he thought about it, the more he knew that he had to tell Max. All the jokes throughout their time as teammates, the jokey nicknames they still used now, the post-race drinks, the texts they’d send each other following press-work, and those moments during which they got to do press conferences together. They were beautiful, little moments that Daniel cherished. He’d always said he wasn’t leaving Red Bull because of Max, and now he knew that given a chance, he’d be back at Red Bull in a moment if it gave him Max back.

“Dan!”

Daniel’s head whipped up, following the sound as he searched for his Max. Max caught Daniel’s eye and grinned at him, looking back over his shoulder momentarily before he reached Daniel’s side. Daniel got up from his seat and reached over to grab Max in a hug. 

“God, am I ready for this,” Max told him, the smile still evident in his voice. 

Once they separated, Max slid into the seat across from Daniel and looked back over at the bar. 

It was now or never. 

“Hey, Max? Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Isn’t that what we’re here for? To talk?” Max responded, never once taking his eyes off the bar area. 

“Yeah, but it’s important, and I really need you to look at me.”

“Sorry, what’s up?” Max looked back at Daniel finally, taking a swig of his drink as he rested his hand on the table, tapping his fingers to an indistinguishable beat. 

Daniel watched his fingers, beating 1-2-3, wanting nothing more than to take Max’s hand and hold it, to lace their fingers together and feel the callous of Max’s fingertips and palm against his own. 

“So, basically, I know we’ve never given any kind of thought to this, well I have. I don’t know if you have, but I miss having you as my teammate, Maxy.”

“Stop it!” Max whined. He really hated that nickname, but Daniel laughed so clearly, he didn’t care. 

“I do miss you, though. Nico’s alright, but he isn’t you and I miss making you laugh. I miss making you smile. I miss the way we’d do the videos for Red Bull and I miss having you at my side.”

“Dan,” Max’s smiled dropped suddenly once Daniel started speaking, having an idea of where this was going, “Dan, listen, stop.”

“No, I need to tell you this, I can’t keep thinking about what if. We don’t live in a world of what if’s, we live in a world of adrenaline and keeping going. Max, I need you to know that I-”

Daniel was cut off by someone sliding into the seat beside Max.

“Hi, Daniel. I’m Cameron,” the boy spoke, raising his hand across the table to shake Daniel’s own. 

“This is Cam, my boyfriend,” Max told him, resting his arm across the back of Cameron’s chair, “This is the surprise I wanted to show you.”

“Hi,” Daniel murmured, not taking his eyes off the way Max fumbled with the sleeve of Cameron’s shirt, flicking it between his fingers. 

Max had never shown even any inclination that there was a boy in the picture. He’d never seen to show an interest in any boys or men that had flirted with him in the paddock or anywhere else they’d been. And here he was, his arm wrapped around a boy, and a look of love in his eyes whenever he looked at _Cameron_.

“Nice to meet you, Cameron,” Daniel smiled at him finally and shook his hand, noticing that that skinny-runt of a boy in fact had a strong handshake. 

“Where’d you meet?” Dan asked, trying to play the good bestfriend even though his heart was shattering. 

Max kept his eyes down, not fully making eye-contact with Dan as he regaled the story of meeting Cameron at the Silverstone grand-prix. 

Ah, the accent made sense, now, Daniel thought, finally placing Cameron’s British accent.

Daniel noticed that the more Max talked, the more he opened up, interspersing his story with funny notes about Cameron and making the boy in question giggle. 

“You’re just as bad as me!” Cameron acclaimed, causing Max to guffaw in response to whatever Cameron was claiming Max was ‘bad’ at. 

Max ducked his head and pressed a kiss to Cameron’s temple, pulling him tighter against his side. It was the final straw for Daniel. 

“Sorry to cut this short mate,” Daniel suddenly got up from his seat and shoved his phone into his pocket, “It was lovely meeting you Cameron, but I’ve just remembered that I’ve got some sponsor work tomorrow and I should probably get a good night’s sleep because it’s going to be a full-on day.”

Max winced at the awkward tone and words, and Cameron looked between his _boyfriend _and Daniel.__

“It was really nice meeting you too Dan, Max speaks very highly of you.”

Even though Daniel knew Cameron was just trying to be nice, it was a step too far and he awkwardly nodded his head at the two of them, his half-drunk beer left to condensate on the table. 

“That’s fine, Dan. We’re going to meet up with mum anyway,” Max murmured, “We’ll have to do it again sometime.”

Daniel simply nodded again and dived away, not able to take one more moment of this. They were already at the meet-the-parents stage. It was simply too much. 

“I love you,” Daniel whispered into the air, pressing his back to the wall of the bar as soon as the crisp air hit him.

In an almost mirror of how this evening started, Daniel pulled his phone out of his pocket and read the words that had just sprawled across his screen.

Maxy-Moo  
  
If you’d have done this three months ago I would’ve been yours  
  


\----------

It was in the paddock at Italy that next week that Daniel saw Cameron and Max again. He watched as Max picked Cameron up around his waist and threw him around, the pair of them laughing loudly. Daniel could only watch on, noting the way that Max’s eyes were shinning as Cameron’s laugh filtered through the paddock. When Max put Cameron back down, the two of them were still giggling to each other as Max spun him around and tilted Cameron’s chin up, catching him in a gentle kiss that Daniel didn’t think Max was capable of. In full-view of the cameras. A cheer echoed through the stadium as Max’s kiss was caught on camera, and Daniel watched as Cameron’s cheeks blossomed with blush. 

“Choose me,” He whispered, looking over at Max and imagining it was him with his forehead pressed against Max’s. 

But it wasn’t. And Max was happy. Incredibly happy. And ultimately, as much as it hurt, Daniel just wanted him to be happy. He looked away, turned back to his garage and snuck through to his driver’s room. Only then did he let the tears fall. Only then did he allow himself to sob and properly miss Max. 

This was going to hurt. He knew Cameron wouldn’t be leaving Max’s side of the paddock anytime, and he’d just have to get used to seeing the love of his life love someone else. This was going to _fucking suck_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed it my pals :)
> 
> Drop us a comment, let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you! Any and all feedback is welcome :)
> 
> Kudos make us all incredibly happy :)
> 
> See you in the next chapter anytime soon :)


	2. How can you still look so attractive when you’re crying?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel is a soldier. Max is a driver. 
> 
> Everything was okay. 
> 
> Until it wasn't.

“I miss you,” Max whispered, cradling his phone as he smiled at the blurry man on the other end.

“Miss you too, baby.”

“When are you coming home?”

“Not sure yet. Tour is probably being extended another few months, we’ve got a lot of work to do here before we can pass it over to the next team.”

Max just nodded, looking downcast but he knew what he was getting himself into when he pursued this relationship.

“Captain Ricciardo? The boss is asking for you.” 

Daniel winced at Max, when the voice on Daniel’s end interrupted their FaceTime. It was the third time their catch-ups has been cut-short in the past month, and soldier’s interrupting calls never seemed to bode well for what was to come. 

“I’m really sorry, Maxy. I’ll try and call you soon.”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll sort something out.”

“Go and smash your first day of testing for me, baby. Beat those smug silver bastards.”

Max laughed at the fire and fight in Dan’s eyes, “I’ll send you my times.”

“Good boy. I love you,” he whispered.

“Love you too.”

And with that the call was cut off. Dan’s smiley face got replaced with Max’s phone wallpaper, which was simply just another version of Daniel smiling; Max held in a piggyback and them giggling. It was a photo that had been taken on Daniel’s last leave, one where Dan had come over to the Netherlands with Max and spent some time with Max’s family, ultimately resulting in Vic getting very invested in photography all of a sudden and not stopping taking photos of Max and Daniel. Not that Max was complaining. In times like these, when Daniel was in an unknown time zone and doing god-knows what, fighting god-knows who, it was nice to have something tangible to look at. 

He tapped into the photo album on his phone and lay back on the sofa. Max flicked through the photos Vic had sent him, smiling as they progressed from Max being on Dan’s back, to Max being chucked into a lake they’d been walking past, to Daniel doubled over laughing as Max emerged from the lake, a murderous look on his face. He could still hear Daniel’s laughter from that day ringing in his ears. 

A knock at Max’s drivers room brought him back to the present.

Jake poked his head around the door, eyeing Max laying on the sofa, “They’re ready to get you into the car, mate.”

Max nodded at Jake, took a final look at the photos and locked the screen. With his phone chucked into a corner of the sofa, Max slid his shoes on, tied them up, and then followed Jake thorough to the garage, pulling his race suit onto his arms and zipping it up as they walked. 

He’d do well at testing. He had to. Daniel told him to. And he couldn’t let Daniel down. 

\----------

Australia. 

The big one. The big race. The starting race. The one that Max wanted to do well in. Get the season off to a good start and get his feet under him well. Daniel wanted him to do well. He needed to do well, he needed to give Daniel a reason to smile. 

The sun was hitting the back of his neck, warming it rapidly and probably sending it red. That would give Daniel a reason to smile if he ever saw him again.

_“You Europeans can’t tan. It’s funny. You’re basically part lobster.”_

_“Shut up and give me my cap back! The sun is being evil.”_

Daniel had wound Max up that day, constantly poking fun at him and laughing at Max’s complaining later in the day when he’d complained of sunburn. He’d give anything to have Daniel back at his side now. Instead Max had no idea where Daniel was, aside from being stuck in a hospital in some corner of an army hospital. 

_“Max Verstappen?”_

_“Yeah, speaking,” He’d barely been paying attention to the voice on the other end of the phone, instead he’d been flicking through the data they’d collected from testing and his simulator work. It never even occurred to him to be concerned, he often received phone calls from people he didn’t know. And he’d only spoken to Daniel the day prior, so he didn’t expect to be having a call from him anytime soon._

_“This is Captain James, I work with Captain Daniel Ricciardo.”_

_Max dropped the sheets he was holding, and immediately scrambled up to sit and hold his phone properly rather than balance it between his ear and shoulder._

_“What’s happened? Is he okay?”_

_“I’m not going to beat around the bush here, Max. No, he isn’t. He’s been hit by an IED. He’s currently in a critical condition, and I need you to give us permission to do whatever is deemed fit for Captain Ricciardo.”_

_Max was silent on the other end of the phone, listening to this man that he didn’t know tell him that Daniel was dying. Dying. In a corner of the world that he couldn’t get to, and he was by himself. Normally, he’d be stable enough at least to be moved closer to a country with a properly functioning hospital, not stuck in the desert in an army hospital. Yes, Max knew that the people and doctors there were more than capable of caring for Daniel, but that didn’t mean that Max didn’t want him in a place with the best possible medical care he could get._

_“Max, Max are you listening? Are you still there?”_

_“Yes, sorry.”_

_“Daniel is in good hands, he’s a strong lad. He’s going to be safe, Max.”_

_“Yep.”_

_“I’ll keep you updated, Max.”_

_“Yep. Thanks.”_

_“Try not to panic too much, Max. Have you got someone that you can talk to?” Captain James tried to reassure him._

_“Yeah I’ll be okay. Thank you for letting me know.”_

_“We’ve got our best people on it, Max. Daniel won’t go down without a fight.”_

_“Yeah, thanks. Bye.”_

_Max barely gave Captain James a chance to say bye himself before he ended the call. As much as he wanted to throw his phone at the wall, both in anger and worry, he knew that smashing his phone would just make him more anxious. Instead he let himself fall face-first onto the cushions beside him. And then he let himself cry._

It had been four weeks since he’d gotten that phone call, meaning it had been four weeks since he’d heard Daniel’s voice. Captain James had been in touch, keeping him updated on Daniel’s progress, so he knew he was stable, and he knew Dan was out of the woods in terms of that he could keel over and die at any point. But he also knew Dan. And that Daniel would be sat, either with his team, or with other high-ranking soldiers, planning something, maybe still in his hospital bed, or maybe at his base. Ultimately, Daniel would not be relaxing the way he should in order to get better quicker.

Not being able to speak to Dan before the Australian Grand-Prix set in a further sense of anxiety. They’d met three years ago now, just before the start of the 2016 season. Daniel had been on leave, and Max had gotten lost in Australia again. Daniel had found him, and being ‘the good Aussie lad that I am’, had walked with Max to the entrance of the racetrack. The following two years, they’d repeated the tradition and the two of them had walked the short distance from Daniel’s place to the track. They’d negotiated an arrangement of Max ringing Daniel to complete the walk to the track this year before Daniel had had to leave for his tour. Neither of them had anticipated Daniel ending up in a critical condition and being unable to converse with Max. 

And he was starting on pole. Max really wanted to punch Daniel (not hard, maybe just softly in the arm) to get back at him for missing this. 

Max stood with his shoulders brushing against Charles and Valtteri as they stood on the grid for the Australian national anthem. A small smile graced his lips as he looked up, watching as the planes flew overhead. He knew that if Daniel was here, he’d be standing stock-still at full attention, and singing along to the anthem, most likely trying to make Max giggle by making really intense eye-contact with him. But he wasn’t. And Max was alone. And Daniel was still god-knows where, in some hospital or on a base in some corner of the world, and Max couldn’t get to him. Daniel singing along badly to the anthem was still one of the few things that Max tried to get Daniel to stop doing. It was frowned upon to laugh during a countries national anthem, but Daniel would always find a way to make Max laugh, or smirk, and that just always ended badly. 

As the song started to draw to an end, Max could vaguely sense movement behind him, and also noticed a sense of hush was settling over the circuit. Normally, towards the end, people would be really getting loud and rather patriotic, but there was a different mood that was settling. 

“You really should be singing along, soldier,” a voice whispered in his ear. An Aussie voice. 

A really familiar Aussie voice. 

Max whipped around and was momentarily blinded by the sun. 

“Oh fuck.”

“Hey, Maxy, miss me?”

Max immediately broke the formation of drivers and flung himself into Daniel’s arms, wrapping his arm around Daniel’s neck as the floodgates opened and he sobbed into Daniel’s neck. The collar of Daniel’s jacket was soon turning a darker brown as Max cried onto him, never once loosening the vice-like grip he had on his soldier. Dimly, he could hear something, most likely the crowd going nuts, in the background, but it was barely audible over the sound of Daniel laughing and breathing in his ear. Daniel was here. He was alive and in Max’s arms.

“Maxy, you gotta let go of me, I need to see that face,” Daniel whispered, trying to pull Max away from him. 

Max pulled away, and Daniel cupped his face in his hands to press their lips together. Their first kiss in more than 6 months.

“I love you.”

“I love you too,” Max whispered against Dan’s mouth, “Oh my god, I hate you so much. You scared me so bad, and then you pull this shit. I just-”

“I’m here now, Maxy. I’m here. I’m okay.”

“You were dying!”

“Nah, knew you’d come and resurrect me if I died just to kill me. Couldn’t risk you losing out to a merc just because you had to come kill me.”

Max laughed and rolled his eyes at Daniel. He was glad that nearly dying hadn’t killed his sense of humour. 

“I can’t believe you’re here. You were meant to be on tour.”

“Getting shot at generally will reduce your tour time,” Daniel hit back, his smile dimming slightly when Max’s eyes filled with tears again.

“You don’t get to joke. I thought they were going to bring you back in a box.”

Daniel seemed to almost sober up at Max’s words. His head dropped slightly and he looked less cheery. 

“I’m all good now, Maxy. You don’t need to worry about me. I’m here, I’m safe. And you’re on pole. It’s a good day, love.”

Max pulled Daniel in for another kiss, threading his fingers through Dan’s curls and felt the coarseness of Dan’s hands pressing against Max’s cheeks. The tears mixed in with the kiss as Max refused to let go.

“How can you still look so attractive when you’re crying? I’m so damn lucky,” Dan whispered against Max’s lips, wiping away the tears tracks on Max’s reddened cheeks. 

He pressed their foreheads together for one final moment before letting go. Gently, he pushed Max away from him.

“Go win me a race, baby,” He told Max, pushing him in the direction of the cars. 

And he did. He’d raced the entire time with a smile on his face, and won it far ahead of the rest of the drivers. When he’d pulled his car behind the p1 sign, with Charles at p2 and Valtteri on p3, Max didn’t even give the other drivers a chance to say anything before he was running to the barrier and leaping over it, wrapping himself koala-style around Daniel and pressing kisses to as much of his face as he could reach. Daniel was grinning and laughing. Max was incredibly happy. He could tell everyone was looking at them, but he didn’t care. He had his Daniel back. He was back in his arms again, and he was safe. 

Eventually, Daniel gently lowered Max to the ground, making sure he was stable on his feet before he took a step backwards. Max watched, not sure where Dan was going with this as he fumbled around his neck, pulling the chain containing his tags out and over his head. He unclipped them and Max watched with wide eyes as Dan dropped to his knee. Please, Max begged, don’t let him have misunderstood this. 

“You’re a champion, both to me, and to that team. It took me nearly dying to know I don’t want to lose another day with you. Make me the happiest Aussie in this land, Max Verstappen, marry me?”

Max, for a record time, cried once again, nodding frantically as he grabbed at Dan. 

“Yes, god, yes. A million times, yes. You and your dramatics,” Max sobbed, shaking his head at his _fiancé_ as Dan pushed the simple silver band onto his finger.

“You better get used to it. I just put a ring on it. Beyoncé would be proud.”

“Dan, no!”

With Dan’s booming laugh filtering through the crowd and Max’s finger reflecting the rays of the sun, he cuddled into Dan’s side. 

This was happiness.

Everything was okay.

Dan was okay. He had a bit of a limp, and he was a bit bruised up, but he was okay.

Max had started what could a championship winning year on a high. 

And, most importantly, he’d be spending the rest of his days with a stupid, ridiculous, Australian soldier, with a smile too bright for this world, a sense of humour that could make Max giggle at any time, and a wide selection of socks that Max still didn’t entirely understand. 

But he didn’t need to. They had a long time ahead of them to understand this world together. 

And that was okay.


	3. You can’t keep pretending it didn’t happen, cause guess what? It did!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This does feature reference to mpreg, so if that ain't your thing feel free to skip :)
> 
> This whole idea came from seeing a photo of Max and Dan holding a baby, I think it was Christian's son? And then the whole Maxiel being parents thing came to my head and I basically need more of them being Dad's bc CUTE.
> 
> Obviously a lot of what I write diverges from canon, and so pls bear that in mind :)
> 
> ALSO HOW GOOD DID MAX DO TODAY!? SO VERY PROUD OF HIM.

“This just in: Max Verstappen will not be racing for Red Bull for 2019!”

“Max Verstappen to take a year out from racing for unknown reasons.”

“Red Bull Racing left chasing a new driver following shock announcement of Verstappen’s non-return in 2019.”

“Verstappen to stop racing at end of 2018 season”

The headlines and media announcements all followed the same tune, all stating that Max was not going to race next year, but no one knew why. Daniel flicked through a few different articles, then checked social media, even going as far to look up what the fans were saying. They tended to find out everything. But no one knew a thing. Max and Red Bull has kept quiet on that front, just a singular statement from Christian and the RB Team had been published. 

“We have spoke with Max and for reasons that will not be discussed he will take the 2019 season off, with his seat being secured for the 2020 season. Following our discussion with Max, we wish him all the best and look forward to his return to the grid in 2020.”

Daniel screenshot the statement, flicked off the app and tapped open his messages app. He scrolled to Max’s name and attached the screenshot.

Maximus Decimus Meridius   
  
were you going to tell me?  
  
No   
  
what the fuck   
  
what is going on Max?   
  


Max simply read the last two messages, not bothering to offer any explanation and not bothering to even have the decency to say sorry. Instead he was just left on read. Daniel spammed Max a few more times, willing to even accept a ‘fuck off’ at this point. He just wanted to know what was happening with Max. Daniel hoped it wasn’t him leaving the team that had caused Max’s temporary leave, but he really had no idea what was causing it. Only two races were left in the season, and Daniel knew he’d be seeing his teammate within the next few days at the Brazil race. And there he would talk to Max, because he wasn’t losing his best friend any more than he already was, nor already had since the announcement of his move to Renault.

—————

The Brazil race was, in Daniel’s mind, a clusterfuck. Max had successfully evaded Dan all weekend, hiding in his driver’s room until the last possible minute, spending any time that they were meant to be filming social media videos with his sister not far off ready to smuggle Max away as soon as they finished. Normally, Max and Daniel would spend the weekend in each other’s close proximity, trading jokes and helping each other out with whatever was happening, before diving back into one of their rooms after the race and working off the adrenaline with each other in a way that was definitely not safe for work. 

Instead, Max just shied away from him, giving short answers and evading Dan’s touch every time he tried to grab the young driver, ignoring his shouts and ignoring his texts. And Daniel was really starting to worry about Max.

Max’s change in behaviour was obvious even on the podium, he shied away from the usual running and chasing Kimi and Lewis with the champagne and just overall seemed much quieter than usual. Daniel knew Max was angry following the incident with Esteban, and he knew he was going to be pissed with the steward’s decision to pull him and Esteban in for a hearing. But he could also sense a certain weariness around Max, almost as though there was more to it than just anger following the collision. Max had dived off the podium as soon as Lewis had started spraying the champagne, but Daniel couldn’t find where he’d ran off to. 

He wasn’t hiding in the garage and he wasn’t in the cooldown room, but Daniel really just wanted to know where he was so he could make sure Max was alright. They may not be doing this whole ‘teammates-with-benefits’ thing anymore, and he knew that next year was going to be tough on them even being friends anymore, but he couldn’t just leave Max to suffer alone. Daniel could take Max screaming at him in frustration if he would just _look_ at him. 

Daniel came around the corner of the building that was the medical area, his cap pulled low on his head as he tried to avoid seeing people. Just as he was about to make his way back to Red Bull to grab his things before shooting off to the hotel, he heard the unmistakable voice of Max’s sister and Christian, meaning Max had to be close by. 

“You can’t keep pretending it didn’t happen, ‘cause guess what? It did! And you didn’t help yourself out there,” Vic scolded.

“And you messing around, getting in Ocon’s face, that could’ve ended really badly, Max! You need to be careful!” Christian inputted. 

“I know! I didn’t mean to, he was just there, and I was scared, so I got angry!” Daniel heard Max shout back, before his voice cracked slightly.

“Max? You alright?” Daniel poked his head into the med centre, catching sight of his young teammate sat with his back to Daniel. 

Victoria’s head shot up, and quickly moved closer to her brother, helping him to zip up his race suit as his hands were too shaky. Christian had left Max’s side, pushing Daniel back out of the entrance, muttering something about ‘he’s fine, it’s under control’. Daniel didn’t get chance to question what was happening as Christian suddenly changed the subject to talking about plans post-Abu Dhabi and what would be happening in the factory for Dan’s leaving do. 

—————

Abu Dhabi passed and it was finally time for Daniel’s, and by extension Max’s, leaving do. They filmed their final ‘On the Sofa’ and Daniel was pleased to note that Max’s slightly cheeky nature was back, but there was still a hint of reservation on Max’s behalf. It was nice to have their friendship back, even if it was just for a few hours. 

By time the factory duties were done, Max looked exhausted yet refused Dan’s offer of stealing him a final Red Bull. Instead he accepted a bottle of water from Christian and sunk down to the floor. 

“You alright, Maxy?” Daniel asked, slinking down next to him but keeping a considerable distance between them, not wanting to push it.

“Hm, I’m fine. Just exhausted.”

“Big night out last night?” Daniel joked but Max just shook his head, eyes on the floor.

“Nope, just had a bad night’s sleep.”

A silence settled between them, not uncomfortable like it had been recently, but not as easy a silence as they were used to.

“Gonna miss seeing you on the grid next year,” Daniel mumbled, not looking at Max for the first time. Instead he focused his eyes on one of the giant pictures of them, their first double podium together. They looked happy. They _were_ happy then.

“Hm,” Max replied, sighing deeply, “Going to be weird being off for the year. Looking forward to the break though.”

Daniel waited for Max to elaborate, or even to just give him a hint as to why he wasn’t going to be on the grid. Alas, it seemed that Max was keeping that a closely guarded secret.

“Will you be at Barcelona for testing?”

“Nope.”

“Will you be at Australia? Be nice to see you there.” Daniel tried.

Max just shook his head. His eyes stayed focused on his water bottle.

“The fuck is going on, Maxy? Tell me, just give me a fucking hint because this is killing me. You’re keeping all these secrets and Christian is being an overbearing mother hen, no one is telling me a thing that’s going on. I’m fucking terrified for next year and now the one person I knew I could rely on is just vanishing. What the fuck is happening, Max?” Daniel just exploded with anger and worry, tears forming in his eyes.

Daniel couldn’t quite believe it when Max just stood up and left. Walking away without a word. 

He dropped his head into his hands, and sobbed. This was such a mess. And he was so fucking scared. 

—————

The year hadn’t started great for Dan: he’d lost his best friend, lost his team, and lost his love of driving very quickly into the season. But once the season started getting along, his results started improving and whilst he wasn’t incredibly happy at Renault, it was improving, so his love of driving was returning slowly.

The only thing that wasn’t returning was Max. He hadn’t heard from his old teammate for a while, none of the texts or phone calls he sent received a reply, and he was really fucking missing him. Him and Max had this whole ‘teammates with benefits’ thing going with the sole intention of not getting feelings attached. It was just meant to be some adrenaline-fuelled sex. Obviously, Daniel didn’t like rules, and so once he realised Max wasn’t going to come back, his feelings nose-dived off a cliff and announced very rapidly to Daniel that he was very much in love with Max and that wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

It was the weekend of the Austria grand-prix and it was really hitting Daniel just how lonely he was without Max. Nico was a fine teammate, they got along just fine, but that was it. Whereas with Max there was always banter, always messing around, always something fun to be doing. And in Austria, it was the Red Bull Ring so all the memories of what they’d got up to came flooding back. He looked over longingly at the Red Bull station, seeing the cameras pointed at them and the staff were messing around. 

Suddenly there was a bit of a commotion and people started cheering loudly. Daniel couldn’t see what was happening from the Renault garage, but he knew it had something to do with Red Bull. 

He looked up and caught sight of one of the large screens, seeing a familiar lanky figure dressed in red bull gear and an orange cap. A backpack was on his back and his arms looked to be crossed across his front. He was in conversation with Christian and never once looked to the cameras, keeping his back to them. 

But Daniel didn’t care. He dropped the papers he’d been given with his data on from qualifying and sprinted from the garage, bustling people aside and not looking back at Renault who were shouting him. Daniel squeezed through the cameras and some Red Bull staff, pushed past Victoria and stood next to one of the cars, looking at Max’s back and suddenly feeling every emotion ever fall through him. 

“Holy shit,” Daniel whispered, “It’s really you.”

It had been more than six months since Daniel had seen Max, and he had barely changed. Max turned slightly, and Daniel could see the strain of Max’s arm muscles, still as defined as ever, and his smile was the same. It dropped slightly when he turned to face Daniel, but Daniel didn’t care. He just wanted to see that face. He just wanted to see Max. 

“Hey Daniel,” Max smiled hesitantly, stepping forward slowly. 

Daniel stepped forward too, wanting to wrap his arms around Max and never let his man go. He wanted to tell him he loved him and he wanted to tell him he missed him. As he raised his arms, he noticed that Max’s arms were straining for a reason. And that was probably the reason why Max seemed so hesitant. 

The small bundle in Max’s arms had little noise-cancelling headphones pressed onto their tiny ears and they were wrapped up in a blanket. 

“Who’s this little one?” Daniel whispered, stepping up to Max and raising his hand to rub a gentle finger against the baby’s cheek.

“Lukas,” Max murmured, looking at the pure love in Daniel’s eyes as he looked down at Max’s son, “Lukas Daniel Verstappen.”

Daniel’s eyes shot up. His eyes widened almost comically as he processed what Max said.

“His other parent let you name him after me? That was just a stupid joke.”

Max shook his head, remembering the joke promise they’d made post-sex whilst drunk a while back.

“It’s not in reference to the joke. I know we promised each other we’d name our kids after each other, but I couldn’t not have his dad’s name in there.”

“His dad?”

Max nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on the small baby in his arms,

“He’s my baby?”

Max nodded again, 

“I’m sorry I kept this from you.”

“How old is he?” Daniel whispered, wanting nothing more than to take Lukas into his arms and give him the biggest hug he could possibly muster.

“Three and a half months. I found out just before Brazil.”

Daniel quickly did the maths in his head, and frowned slightly at Max.

“Didn’t find out until I was fifteen weeks, and then there was complications and so Lukas decided to appear early. Just so happened that he turned up just before the Australia race started. Think he wanted to support his papa.”

Daniel listened to Max’s words, never once taking his eyes on Lukas. His son. His little baby. 

“You can hold him,” Max offered, holding Lukas out slightly and smiled at the way Daniel immediately nodded and gently took the baby into his arms, holding Lukas to his chest and looking down at him with so much love in his eyes.

“Hi, little man, there’s my little Aussie,” Daniel laughed as Lukas stared at him, gurgling slightly and wiggled his arm out to try and grab at Daniel’s face. He just leaned closer, letting Lukas poke and prod at his features. Lukas, without meaning to, patted Daniel’s face where the tears raced down his cheeks. Lukas’ eyes were the spitting image of Max’s, the bright blue being the same ones as he’d fallen in love with.

“I love you,” Dan told him, noticing that Max was still looking at Lukas.

“It’s hard not to love him.”

“Not him, well yeah, I do love him because he’s you and he’s me and he’s perfect, but you. I love you too. You’re his daddy and you’re perfect. I’ve missed you so fucking much and I can’t do this anymore without telling you that. And I’m so proud of you for looking after Lukas and taking this in your stride. You’re perfect Max, and I’m so in love with you.”

“Must be the Lukas effect, because the minute I saw him, I knew I was in love with you too.”

Daniel grinned at Max, shifting to hold Lukas in one arm so he could pull Max forward. Max grinned back at him, pressing their lips together in their first kiss in nearly eight months. It had been a long time since they’d had any form of ‘intimate’ contact. Lukas gurgled between them and they broke the kiss to look down at him. 

Lukas was smiling at his parents, they looked happy, he liked it when they were happy. It had been a long time since he’d seen his daddy smile like that. 

“He’s got his papa’s smile,” Max whispered, brushing his fingers over his son’s wispy black hair. 

Daniel pressed a kiss to both of his boy’s heads. This, Daniel thought, this was perfection. This was his everything. Everything was going to be fine this year. He had his Lukas now, and he’d finally got his Max back. 

Life was going to be good.


	4. Is that my shirt?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old person from Max's past turns up, and Dan gets insecure. 
> 
> TW: mention of disordered eating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the bulk of this on a caffeine high at 2am this morning. It was a wild one lads

Moving to Renault wasn’t necessarily the worst decision Dan had made in his career. Yes, he wasn’t in an overly competitive team, and yes, he wasn’t always scoring the points that he thought he deserved. But it was alright. It was going okay. The worst part was missing Max. Seeing Max further up the grid, never really getting chance to battle him on track, watching as his guy battled and fought against the others, all the while getting bogged down with talks about Pierre not being a good enough teammate and other talks about what was meant to become the hottest rivalry in current F1 with Charles. When the two of them were together, Max was so exhausted from dealing with everyone and everything that they barely had the chance to do anything other than just fall into bed, and inevitably Max would fall asleep, his arm tight around Dan’s waist, his head resting against his chest, all within five minutes of Netflix being turned on. Regardless of where they were, or what they’d been doing, Max was exhausted. Constantly. 

The week of the Silverstone Grand Prix meant staying at Max’s place he had in the UK for when he was spending a lot of time at the factory, which meant spending a lot of time just relaxing and training, and also for some reason shopping at the local supermarket, because Max ate everything in the house. All the time. Dan wasn’t necessarily complaining, he loved that Max was in a stable enough state that he wasn’t becoming food avoidant again, but he would appreciate if Max would stop stealing the food he needed to make their dinner. The things you do for the people you love, Dan thought, as he spent yet another afternoon fighting with the self-service checkouts. 

Max had chosen to drive the two of them the 20 minutes from the apartment to the track, ultimately meaning Dan got a bollocking off Cyril for being seen turning up in an Aston Martin car when he was meant to be in a Renault car. But he didn’t care. He’d take a twenty-minute bollocking if it meant getting an extra twenty minutes in the day with the person he loved most in the world. The whole matter probably wasn’t helped by Christian waving at Cyril and giving Daniel that overly fond paternal-smile, before Max gently kissed him, told him he loved him, and the two went their separate ways. To their separate garages. To their separate lives for the rest of the day. 

“Please tell me you can come and get a coffee, because I’m going to collapse if I don’t get caffeine in my veins,” Max mumbled, his face pressed into Daniel’s neck after stumbling into the Renault garage at some point just after lunch and wrapping himself around Daniel’s back. 

Daniel huffed a laugh out and spun around on his chair, pulling Max into his arms properly by making him stand between his legs and letting him near-on flop forward against him. 

“You literally slept for fourteen hours last nightI .”

“Don’t care, still need coffee.”

Daniel shook his head, ignoring the team personnel who were staring at them, and tugged Max away from him. Lacing their fingers together, Daniel jumped up from his chair and gave a gentle tug to Max’s arm, leading his ridiculous boyfriend out of the garage and towards the little coffee stall that Max was kind of obsessed with. They kept their hands linked as they made the short walk to the stall. 

The two of them had come out just before Dan’s move to Renault, a necessary evil to deal with if they still wanted to sneak into each other’s driver’s rooms at any point. Dan didn’t need the rumours that he was looking for a switch back to Red Bull and Max just didn’t want to be associated with the Renault team. Something about how he didn’t look good in yellow. Dan disagreed. Seeing Max in nothing but one of his Renault team-shirts and _very_ tight black boxers had created very inappropriate thoughts that Dan really should not be remembering when he was in a paddock as busy as Silverstone was, but that was a night he wasn’t going to forget anytime soon. Admittedly, Dan wasn’t sure if it was the yellow against Max’s skin or seeing Max wearing Dan’s shirt that got him going. Either way, Max looked good in the kit. 

They stood waiting around, giving the baristas chance to catch up with orders before placing their own. The two of them didn’t mind waiting. It was more time that they could spend just in each other’s presence. It was nice. Max was resting his head against Daniel’s shoulder, his eyes progressively shutting for longer periods of time as they waited for their coffees. Once the coffees were in hand, they found a small wall to perch on, Dan sitting with one leg pulled up to his chest and their joint fingers resting atop. Max, once again, pressed himself into Dan’s side and put his head on his shoulder, barely lifting it enough to take a drink of his coffee. 

“Come home with me for the break?” Dan spoke into Max’s hair.

“Hmm, sure. Grace can make me some actually good food again,” Max replied, causing Dan to guffaw and shake his shoulder to try and dislodge Max’s head. Instead Max just smiled and laughed, 

“Nah, seriously though, it would be nice to go back. When do you want to go?”

“Dunno yet, guessing straight after the Hungary would be best.”

Max hummed, letting Dan start to work out the logistics in his head. 

“Maxy-”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Maxy, baby, love of my life-”

“I will end you.”

“Darling, dear, my love, Maximus Dec-”

But Daniel didn’t get chance to finish calling Max a number of different names, as a voice cut him off, shouting,

“MAX!” 

Max’s head shot up and he barley was able to put his coffee down before he was shooting up and running towards someone. The two met in a tangle, the other person wrapping their legs around Max’s waist as Max caught them in his arms and spun in a circle, suddenly looking a lot more awake and hugging the other person tightly. When Max dropped the other person onto their feet again, Daniel’s view was still obscured by Max standing in the way but also by other people just staring at the two of them. 

Making sure he had Max’s coffee in hand, Daniel walked over to them and stopped by Max’s side. Immediately his gaze went to the sight of Max and this other person holding hands. The other person was talking animatedly at Max, tracing their fingers over Max’s hand and gesticulating widely with the other. 

“I never even thought about seeing you here. Fuck man, it’s been so long. Isä made me come and I just never even put two and two together, it’s been so long. We gotta go for dinner.”

“Yeah man, of course. Need a proper catch up!”

“Pizza date?”

“Obviously.” Max grinned at the other person, not even noticing Dan at his side.

In a more than obvious way, Dan cleared his throat and brought Max’s attention to him for the first time since the Mysterious Stranger appeared. Dan didn’t fail to notice that Max’s eyes weren’t as bright when he tore them away from Mysterious Stranger to look at Dan and his grin faltered slightly. 

“Who’s this, Maxy?”

“Stop calling me that!” Max complained, rolling his eyes at Mysterious Stranger. 

“C’mon, I’m just teasing ya.”

“Whatever,” Max tolled his eyes again, making Mysterious Stranger (who still hadn’t dropped Max’s hand Daniel noticed) laugh, “This is Kami, Kami this is Dan.”

“Nice to meet you,” Kami said as his eyes trailed up and down Dan.

“Likewise. How’d you two know each other?”

Max and Kami looked at each other, neither of them speaking even though they looked as though they were silently daring each other. 

“Old history,” Kami eventually answered, smiling slyly at Max.

Max laughed.

“Yeah something like that.”

The two grinned at each other, clearly sharing an inside joke. Dan didn’t like that. 

“Kami! Tule, meillä ei ole koko päivää!” 

The three of them turned to the source of the voice, Dan being the only one of the three of them that seemed surprised to see Kimi Räikkönen staring intently at whoever this Kami was. 

“Yksi sekunti! Puhun Max, olen siellä isä!” Kami shouted back, before turning back to roll his eyes at Max. 

Was that a thing that youngsters did? Dan swore he’d never seen two people roll their eyes as much as _Kami_ and Max did in that brief interaction. 

“I better go, but I’ll text you, yeah? You free tonight?” Kami asked, picking up Max’s hand and holding it tightly. Oh boy, Dan thought, he really didn’t like this kid. 

“Should be,” Max replied softly, never once breaking the contact with Kami. 

“Cool. I’ll text you later.”

Kami went up onto his tiptoes and balanced his hands atop Max’s shoulders to press a kiss to Max’s cheek.

“See you later, kalu.”

“Bye, kusipää.”

Kami laughed as he walked backwards, finally, FINALLY, dropping Max’s hand.

“See you around, Dan.”

“Yeah, bye.”

Kami smiled one last time at Max, winked, then turned on his heel and sprinted up to Kimi and jumped on his back, letting his _isä_ (?) grab him. Dan had literally no idea what was happening.

“Who the hell was that?”

“Kami, I told you.”

“Yeah, I know that. But who is he? How do you know each other?”

“Long story,” Max flippantly told him, waving his hand as though it wasn’t a big deal, as his eyes zeroed in on the coffee, “Oh you angel, you brought my coffee over.”

Dan near enough shoved the drink into Max’s hand, the jealousy coursing through his veins. 

“Yeah, you were too bothered with whatever that was to remember it, even though you were the one who dragged me away from work to get it.”

Max took a sip from the drink and tried to put his arm around Dan’s waist, but Dan counteracted by starting to walk back towards the Renault garage. 

“Dan? C’mon don’t be jealous. Kami and I just have some history, it’s nothing.”

“Clearly it’s something!” Dan hissed, trying to keep his voice down to avoid anyone’s attention being pulled to them arguing, “If it was nothing you wouldn’t be letting him hold your hand and take you _on a fucking date_ , mate.”

“Well that’s ridiculous.”

“I know what I heard.”

“Yeah, I know, you were stood next to me. I know what you heard. I’m just saying you’re being ridiculous.”

Dan ignored Max’s comments, instead he stared into the Ferrari garage, saw Kimi with his arm around Kami’s shoulders and watched as Sebastian talked with both Kami and Charles. The two youngsters looked as though they had matching blushes on their cheeks. Dan made a mental note to check on Charles later. 

Inevitably Max followed Dan’s gaze and noticed him staring at Kami and the older drivers. 

“You’re getting obsessed with him.”

Dan stopped in his tracks and Max nearly walked into his back at the abrupt stop. 

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me.”

Dan turned to Max, seeing the way that the younger driver’s arms were crossed across his chest and his eyebrows furrowed. Whether it was confusion or anger, Dan didn’t know. 

“I’m hardly becoming obsessed with him.”

“You don’t need to be jealous of him!” 

“Then tell me your history then!”

“Why?!” Max shouted, “Why?! So, you can know every little detail about my life like my dad did? So, you can plan who I can talk to and who I can’t? No, fuck you. If that’s how you’re going to be because I talked to my _friend_ , I don’t want to be around you.”

“Fuck off to your fancy little _friend_ then. See if I give a shit. You’ll never change.”

Max stared intently at Daniel, saw the fire in his eyes, and abruptly turned on his heel and stalked off, heading into the Ferrari garage and grabbed Kami by his arm, never said a word, and pulled the other boy into the Red Bull garage next door and into, what Dan guessed, was Max’s driver’s room. He’d followed Max’s moves with an intense gaze, and only when the door slammed shut loud enough that Dan could hear it from outside the garages, with all the noise of a Thursday paddock, did he let his gaze wander to where he saw three people staring at him. Kimi looked as neutral as ever, Sebastian looked ready to murder someone (Dan didn’t stick around to find out if it was him or Max that was going to be killed - he’d later find out it was Max), and Charles just looked slightly worried and confused. 

Daniel didn’t see Max again for the rest of the day. Thursdays were always busy with press work, but they’d still get a chance to see each other. Instead it seemed as though Max was doing his level-best to avoid even being anywhere within Dan’s proximity. By the time they were supposed to be leaving, Max still hadn’t appeared. 

“He told me to give you these.”

Daniel looked up from his phone as he heard the familiar voice of his former team principle. Christian was leaning against the door of Dan’s room, a pair of keys dangling from his fingers. 

Max’s Aston’s keys.

“He still mad at me, huh?”

Christian chucked the keys at Dan, who caught them one handed and didn’t even look at them.

“I don’t know about that. He just said he’s going out for dinner with Kami and he’ll be back late. Kami’s driving so you may as well take the car home. Surprised you’re not joining them.”

“We had a fight,” Dan shrugged, holding back a smile as Christian’s eyes rolled towards the heavens and he heaved a great sigh. 

“Thought this shit would be over with now you’re on separate teams,” he said, but Dan knew Christian wasn’t talking to him, “Look. You’re both as stubborn as each other. Go home, have dinner, do something and don’t think about Max. He’ll be doing the same. Just for once, act like adults.”

“I will, when he stops lying.”

“He wasn’t lying Dan, he does have history with Kami but no one really knows what happened between them. other than them two. Just let him have this. Don’t become his Dad.”

Daniel at least had the decency to look slightly downtrodden by Christian’s words. 

“Right. I’m off before Cyril sees me and starts making more comments about me stealing his driver. Just, give Max a break, Dan, yeah? He doesn’t need this on top of everything else to go wrong.”

And with that, Christian turned and left, not even giving Dan a chance to say anything in response. 

Instead, Dan just followed his advice and packed his few things into his backpack and snuck out of the garage before he could get collared by Cyril for a chat about something or other. Dan wasn’t in the mood. He just wanted a fried chicken burger and to sort shit out with Max. 

——

When Max finally got home, he quietly let himself in but he needn’t have bothered. Dan was sat up in bed, watching some random comedy on Netflix, waiting for Max to make an appearance. 

_‘Never go to bed on a bad feeling’_

And he didn’t plan on it. Even if they just apologised to each other, Dan didn’t care. He just wanted Maxy back by his side and for them to be okay. He didn’t want to turn into Max’s dad. Admittedly he was just jealous and insecure and a little bit nervous about what this _Kami_ person involved. 

He listened as Max went about his night time routine, dropping his phone as he always did and walking into the doorframe of the bathroom as he always did. When Max shuffled into the bedroom, his hair was fluffed up atop his head and his eyes looked tired. But he was still the most beautiful being Dan had ever laid eyes on. 

Especially when he took stock of what Max was wearing.

“Are you trying to torture me?”

“Nah,” Max replied, pulled at the hem of the Renault t-shirt he’d clearly stolen out of the wash basket from where Dan had placed it earlier, “Just thought this might be the best way to get you to chat.”

He crawled up the bed, and pressed against Dan’s side, snuggling under the offered arm so that he was cuddled tightly into Dan.

“I’m really sorry for the way I acted earlier,” Dan murmured.

“Me too. It’s just, Kam and I have so much history, it’s so hard to go into it because there’s so much there. But it’s nothing, I promise you.”

“You don’t need to tell me,” Dan told him, “I would just like to know where you know him from. He didn’t sound Dutch?”

“No, he’s from Finland actually, Kimi and Seb adopted him when he was 12.”

“How-”

“It’s why Kimi went into rallying. It was easier to keep Kami settled if Kimi was around or something, I don’t know, I don’t really remember. And yes, it does get confusing when you shout for Kami and Kimi responds. But they kept his name, seemed like a sign he was meant for them. I don’t know. We met at a rallying event somehow. Been best friends since we were thirteen.”

Dan nodded, not sure how to accept the fact that Kami had been a closely guarded secret in the paddock for nine years. Him and Seb had worked together for Christ sake and Dan still had no idea about the existence of this kid. Daniel let the matter drop after that, knowing that Max would tell him what he wanted, when he wanted. Instead the two to them settled down, not wanting to get into another fight about anything, but instead just watched the show Dan was already watching. 

“He’s the boy I lost my virginity with,” Max eventually said. 

Dan thought he’d fallen asleep already. 

“We were fifteen, in his parents place. We were just having fun, and we had sex. It wasn’t great. We’ve never been in love with each other, but he’s great. I love him. He’s one of my best friends. And that’s it. We kissed once, when we were fourteen, in a dumb spin the bottle thing, but that’s it. We got plastered, woke up the next morning and Kimi and Seb were not happy to see their golden boy in a very bad state. That’s why they glare at me. Kami is just as bad an influence on me as I am on him. But we’re best friends.

“Please, just stop worrying about him. He’s got a thing for Charles anyway. I spent the entire night talking about you, and he smiled and told me how happy he was for me. He’s not that for me. You are. You’re my guy. He’s just my person that I need sometimes. But I don’t love him, not the way I love you. So please, just trust me. It’s old history,” Max whispered. 

“I’m sorry.” Dan muttered. 

“It’s okay, but trust me, next time, yeah?”

Dan nodded, and Max seemed to accept it as he pushed himself up in order to properly kiss Dan. 

“Is that my shirt by the way?” Dan asked, “As in the one I wore this afternoon when I was all hot and sweaty?”

Max nodded, a smirk on his face and a playful look in his eyes.

“Thought if it’s already dirty, doesn’t matter if we make it just that bit worse,” he whispered, his words barely audible. Max’s teeth grazed the shell of Dan’s ear as he spoke. 

Any coherent thoughts Dan had, went that very instance. Until Max pulled back and he could seem the playful look again. 

“Is this your ‘I’m sorry for starting a fight’ get up?” Dan teased, running his finger just high enough that he could dip it under the tight black material of Max’s boxer shorts. 

“No, this is my ‘my boyfriend is insecure and needs to remind himself that I’m his and only his’ get up,” Max replied, shifting so that he was straddling Dan and the golden material of the Renault shirt shifted against the stark material of his boxer shorts.

Never let it be said that Max Verstappen didn’t know how to treat his man well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kami! Tule, meillä ei ole koko päivää! - Kami! Come on, we don’t have all day!
> 
> Yksi sekunti! Puhun Maxille, olen siellä isä! - One second! I’m talking to Max, I’ll be right there!
> 
> Kalu - dick
> 
> kusipää - fucker
> 
> ————————
> 
> I am weak for Simi. 
> 
> Kami is actually an OC that I created for another story I came up with, in which the parents just remind me of Simi sm that I flung him in here. Yes, the name thing was just me having fun, soz. 
> 
> Hope you enjoyed it my pals :)
> 
> Drop us a comment, let me know what you think, I’d love to hear from you! Any and all feedback is welcome :)
> 
> Kudos make us all incredibly happy :)
> 
> See you in the next chapter anytime soon :)


	5. We’re not just friends and you fucking know it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel moving to Renault complicates things for Max, but it complicates things more when Max falls for Daniel and doesn't know what to do about it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hot minute since this boi got updated. I miss these little fics :')
> 
> As always with my fics it seems, Max is a sad boi and Daniel is a soft boi and Valtteri is a Good Egg.

As soon as he opened his Instagram he was greeted with that photo of _him_ , looking like a banana. He knew that he should be happy, he looked like a ray of sunshine, and he knew that he was doing what is best for him. But that didn’t mean it didn’t _fucking_ hurt to see him not in his gear. Not in his navy blue. 

And he looked so happy. Max could deal with the pain of seeing him not in the blue of Red Bull if he just didn’t look so happy to be away from them. From him. Because that was why he left. He left because of Max. 

Daniel had promised they’d be okay, that they’d still do whatever it was they were doing, this whole teammates-with-benefits thing that was becoming less benefits as he hung out more and more with Nico. And Max didn’t begrudge him that. He was hanging out with Pierre more often, admittedly because he was seeing Daniel less, but also because he had to get to know his new teammate and make sure they could work well together. And Daniel seemed to be getting along _really_ well with Nico. 

He’d seen the photos on Instagram, that black and white shot of him and Nico sitting on a counter somewhere in the Renault factory, laughing. And those close-up photos of Daniel, the yellow of the team polo and seeing him wearing his black and yellow overalls. It just reminded him of how _different_ this year was going to be. Already Max could feel the dread settling in. 

The biggest difference would be not having Daniel to run off to when his Dad got too overwhelming. He’d grown reliant on being able to dive out of his motorhome and into the one next door with no-one noticing and being wrapped up in arms and buried in the neck of someone that had that really odd yet comforting smell of fuel and vanilla, and just being able to breathe. He couldn’t do that now. He couldn’t break into Renault motorhomes without someone accusing him of trying to spy or steal data. And if he was already on that panicked edge, even someone making a joke about him being the enemy would tip Max over the edge and then more people would see him as that stupid, young, impulsive driver who can’t do anything but cry and have other people fix his problems. 

Max exited the app before more thoughts could enter his mind. He could feel his heart racing and his breath hitching as tears filled his eyes, throwing his phone against the other pillow of his bed. He scrunched his eyes up as he rubbed his fists against them, feeling every inch that same young boy he knew half the paddock still saw him as. It was one of those moments in which Max could really do with a hug from Daniel. They were truly wonderful experiences. Maybe when they got to winter testing he could see if Daniel could just give him that hug, that would hopefully make that pain in his heart dissipate a bit. But, knowing how his teammates-with-benefits feelings were slowly edging towards a different type of feeling towards Daniel, Max doubted that the pain would go anywhere. If anything, it’d get worse. 

Everything had changed and Max wasn’t ready for that. 

\----------

Two weeks later after Max’s little breakdown, they were at testing. And Max couldn’t find Daniel anywhere. He still wanted that hug, other people’s perceptions of him be damned. He’d hunted round the paddock for him, wanting nothing more than to get wrapped up in those arms and just be warm. Be safe. Instead he was left to just wander around the paddock, catching sight of the other cars, new drivers, all the different moves. 

The rookies were running around, causing havoc and suddenly Max understood how some of the older drivers felt when he’d joined, a fresh-faced youngster excited by the glitz-and-glamour of F1. But instead, he was more like the cynical older drivers who didn’t seem to enjoy sharing the track with the talented and, often times, better young drivers. He never thought he’d be classing himself as an old-timer, especially not when he was only in his fifth season. He still felt so young, so disconnected from the guys that had been here so much longer. 

So disconnected from Daniel. 

It wasn’t until late that evening that Max finally caught sight of Daniel. 

He knew that he could’ve text Daniel, or hell, even just go and visit him whilst they’d still been home. They lived in the same apartment block after all, just a couple of floors separated them. But he couldn’t. And now, when he saw Daniel, Max resigned himself to knowing that the days of Daniel being his #1 person were gone. 

It was at some bar in Barcelona that Max saw it, having been dragged along by Pierre and Charles, even after he vehemently fought them to just let him go to bed. The two French-speakers had nigh-on dragged Max the short distance from the hotel and to the bar, intent on making Max have a good time. They’d left after a short while in the bar, sneaking off somewhere together and leaving Max to survey the place by himself. 

The three rookies were almost cuddled up together in the corner of the table, looking at something on one of their phones and chatting amongst themselves. Valtteri, Seb and Kimi looked like they were having a really in-depth discussion about some form of vodka that was in front of them. Most of the grid had actually made it to the bar, and so those that were left were either actually stood at the bar downing shots or were just lounging around the table they’d commandeered. 

But not Daniel. 

Daniel was perched on Nico’s lap, an arm tucked around Nico’s neck whilst Nico had one arm tied around Daniel’s waist and his other hand was resting high up on Daniel’s thigh. The two only seemed to have eyes for each other, ‘whispering’ – as well as one could in a place as loud as this - in each other’s ears and laughing between themselves. 

Max had watched for a little while. He hoped and he prayed that Daniel would eventually just slide off, falling apart with laughter at the fact that they’d kept the charade up for so long. But when no one else seemed to take note of the two Renault (god how that felt wrong to call Daniel a _Renault_ driver) drivers, Max started to think that he’d actually missed something and they were in fact the one thing that Max had hoped he and Daniel would become. 

But no. Max would have to just accept that Daniel was gone. Daniel wasn’t his. Daniel would never be his. Daniel was Nico’s now. 

The beer going down his throat was settling uncomfortably in his stomach, and the taste was leaving a sickly flavour in his mouth. 

Seeing Nico ruffle Daniel’s curls and kiss his cheek was enough to actually make Max want to throw up. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid, so naive. Of course Daniel wouldn’t want him. Why would he want someone like Max when he could have Nico? Experienced, funny, tall, handsome, not-anxiety driven, no daddy issues, fucking perfect Nico. 

Max carefully placed his bottle of beer down, sliding it down to Valtteri and stood up. He had to accept it. He had to move on. He couldn’t sit here crying and waiting for Daniel to come back to him. He’d never owned Daniel in the first place. And why should he have? Teammates with benefits wasn’t exclusive to Red Bull. It was all over the grid, some even across teams. Daniel could do it with whoever he wanted, and his teammate wasn’t Max anymore. 

Valtteri caught his wrist as he walked past, trying to sneak out without anyone noticing. 

“Wait, I’ll come with you,” Valtteri told him. 

“It’s fine, stay, have a nice time.”

Valtteri kept hold of Max’s wrist and stared at him, searching for something in his eyes that Max had no idea what it was he was looking for. 

“No, I think I’ll come with you.”

Max sagged his shoulders and nodded. He liked Valtteri. He was quiet. Maybe it would do Max some good to have some company on the short walk back. He stood awkwardly whilst he waited for Valtteri to down the beer and vodka, nod his goodbyes to Seb, Kimi and Lewis and grabbed his jacket to follow Max out the bar. Max stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets, watching his feet as they walked in a companionable silence.

“What’s up, kid?” Valtteri eventually asked, nudging Max with his elbow. 

“‘M not a kid, Lando is a kid.” Max pointed out, which had Valtteri smile. 

“You’re still in your early twenties. You’re a kid.”

Max rolled his eyes but didn’t say anything. Valtteri wasn’t much older than he was, but he guessed all the hanging around with Seb and Kimi and Lewis had aged him a bit. 

“So, what’s up then?”

Max sighed deeply again, rolling his head to look up at the inky sky and the stars peppered across it. 

“How do you... how do you deal with falling in love with a guy that you’ve just watched spend the entire night falling in love with someone else?” Max asked. 

Valtteri looked over at Max and Max smiled at him. He saw the moment that Valtteri caught the tear escaping and running down his cheek. 

“Kid,” Valtteri muttered, dragging Max into a hug. 

Max had never been hugged by Valtteri before. Actually, very few of the drivers had ever hugged him. The last person to hug Max had been Daniel. In Abu Dhabi. Three months prior to now. 

“Max, he’s not in love with Nico.”

“Yes he is,” Max said, wiping his tears on Valtteri’s shoulder, “He’s so into him, Valtteri.”

“He’s way more into you.”

Max shook his head. 

“He isn’t. And it’s okay. I’m never anyone’s first choice…” Max trailed off, letting go of Valtteri and continuing to walk to the hotel. 

“Has he told you that?” Valtteri questioned. 

Max shook his head again. 

“Then how do you know?”

“Because he looks at Nico the same way he used to look at me.” Max told him. 

Valtteri didn’t say anything else, just walked in step with Max and thought for a while. 

“I don’t think he’s into Nico,” Valtteri eventually said as they entered the hotel, “He told Seb something a few weeks ago apparently, about wanting to hang out with you some more, I don’t know, I wasn’t entirely listening to Seb.”

“You can want to hang out with someone and still be into someone else,” Max pointed out, which had Valtteri sigh and close his eyes whilst he shook his head, muttering something about ‘dumb kids with their dumb behaviour’. 

“Look, Max, Daniel likes you. Just tell him.”

“I’ll pass.” Max declined. 

Valtteri continued to mutter to himself as he dragged Max out of the elevator and to his room. 

“Come on, sad movie time.” Valtteri pushed the younger driver into his hotel room and went to dig out some comfy clothes to lend to Max. 

“I don’t want to invade your space,” Max reluctantly took the clothes and stumbled as Valtteri pushed him in the direction of the bathroom. 

“You’re not. Change and we’ll watch a sad movie.”

Max pulled the clothes on Valtteri leant him, thankful that he’d had the hindsight to lend Max shorts with the considerable height difference between them. The long-sleeved shirt was baggy on Max, owing to Valtteri’s broader proportions than his own. Max folded up his own clothes and shuffled back into the other room. Valtteri was sat on the bed, scrolling through his laptop and smiled when he saw Max. 

“C’mere. Pick something.”

Max sat cross-legged beside Valtteri and rubbed his eyes. He watched Valtteri scroll for a while before he had him stop on a movie he hadn’t watched since he was a little boy. 

“That one,” Max said, pointing at Toy Story 2. “I remember crying at that when I was a kid.”

“Was you even born when it came out?”

“I think I’d just turned two.”

“Jesus Christ I was ten.”

Max smiled and settled back against the pillows. They watched the movie in silence, and Max was glad. He didn’t really have a good relationship with many of the other drivers, mostly just Daniel and Pierre and Lando and Carlos. But Valtteri was nice. He reminded Max a lot of Kimi. And Kimi always seemed like he was alright. Kimi seemed like he’d keep you safe.

At some point Max dozed off, not even getting to the part that would make him cry before his eyes fell shut with heaviness and he was gone. The sound of talking roused him later, and Max realised that Valtteri wasn’t next to him anymore. Instead he was at the door, talking to someone. 

“He really misses you.”

“I miss him too. He went radio silent for a while and I just didn’t know what to do.”

“Talk to him. He wants you, don’t make me babysit him again.” 

The other voice laughed, and Max’s sleep-foggy brain knew it was familiar but he couldn’t work out who it was.

Valtteri turned back to Max, and smiled when he saw Max awake and rubbing his eyes. 

“He’s all yours, take him back to your room,” Valtteri let Daniel into the room, with Max smiling awkwardly at the Aussie. 

Daniel walked over to Max, rubbing his hand over Max’s knee when he squatted beside him. 

“You ready to go? Think we need to have a talk, don’t we?” Daniel asked. 

Max fidgeted the sheet between his fingers and nodded. 

Daniel picked Max’s hand up and linked their fingers together, tugging Max off the bed. Valtteri handed over Max’s clothes he’d been wearing at the start of the evening. 

“I’ll bring your stuff back tomorrow?” Max asked as he was pulled out the door.

Valtteri nodded and shut the door behind them once Max had said his thank yous and goodbyes. Max followed behind Daniel, letting himself be pulled down the corridor and into the elevator to go to Daniel’s floor. Max didn’t say anything entire time, looking at his socked feet as they wandered through the hotel. 

Once they got to Daniel’s room, Max noticed that Daniel’s free hand was shaking slightly when he swiped his keycard to get in. 

Daniel let go of Max’s hand and they just stood awkwardly in the slight hallway, staring at each other before Daniel scoffed and led Max over to the bed. Max stumbled behind him and then pushed himself onto the bed, pulling his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. 

“What do you want to talk about?” Max asked, his voice much quieter than normal. 

“The fact that you’ve been avoiding me,” Daniel deadpan replied, which had Max avert his eyes, “I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing you did, I just realised that I need to let you go.” Max refused to look at Daniel, even when he felt the bed move underneath him as Daniel shifted. 

Daniel’s hand came to rest against his wrist and the other tugged Max’s chin up. 

“Why would you need to do that?” Daniel questioned. 

“So that you can move on, it’s not fair if I stop you. You want a fresh start.” Max felt his heart breaking as he said the words, the image of Daniel on Nico’s lap flashing across his eyes every time he blinked. 

“I never said I wanted a fresh start from you,” Daniel gently ran his fingers over Max’s cheek, “You’re the one thing I wanted to keep.”

“But Nico…” Max trailed off.

Daniel frowned at him, his eyebrows knitting together. 

“What about Nico?”

“You and him. I saw it.”

“Saw what?”

“I saw you on his lap, I know he’s better than me. He’s better experienced and better at being nice and everything. He’s just better. I get it, I really do. You deserve good things and Nico can give them to you.” Max explained. 

“I don’t want Nico. I don’t want all the experience, because he’s not you. I want you, Maxy, just you. If you don’t want this, I get it. You’ve got Pierre now, you can do everything we did, with him. But don’t make my decision for me.” Max flushed at Daniel’s words, but then looked him properly in the eyes. 

For the first time, Max could see the worry and the anxiety and the fight in Daniel’s eyes. He was fighting. Was he fighting for Max?

“You really want me?” Max timidly asked. 

“More than anything.”

“I thought we were just going to have to be friends again,” Max said, dropping his knees and scooting forward into Daniel’s lap. 

Daniel wrapped him tightly in his arms. One arm was resting around Max’s waist and the other was curled up his back, pressing Max’s face into his shoulder. There was that hug that Max had so desperately wanted.

“We’re not just friends and you fucking know it,” Daniel replied, making Max smile. 

“Can I stay with you tonight?” 

“You can stay with me forever,” Daniel said, kissing Max’s forehead. 

“I missed you.” Max whispered, “And I’m sorry, I just didn’t want to have to hear you say that you didn’t want me anymore.”

“You’re my dude, Maxy, you’ll always be more than just a friend, unlike Nico. He will always be just a friend. His fashion sense is too terrible to be with a 10 outta 10 like me,” Daniel joked. 

Max didn’t say anything. He let Daniel man-handle him so that they were laying down on the bed, Max still wrapped up in Daniel’s arms and his ear pressed to the spot right above Daniel’s heart. The purest part of him. 

“First thing tomorrow you are returning those clothes to Valtteri,” Daniel did eventually say, “Either you wear your own or my clothes, or none at all. I’m not having my boy wearing other guy’s clothing.”

Max smiled at the possessive tone of Daniel’s voice. 

“I dunno..” Max teased, “This is a really comfy shirt, might have to ask Valtteri if I can keep it.”

Max laughed as Daniel rolled him onto his back to straddle him. He laughed as Daniel’s hands shot underneath the shirt, pooling it around his armpits in an attempt to get it off Max. He laughed as Daniel pressed their mouths together, unable to kiss him properly whilst still giggling. 

He kept giggling when Daniel ran his fingers through Max’s hair, smiling down at him like he was the most precious thing in the world. 

Max had been on the receiving end of quite a few of Daniel’s smiles over the years. 

But this one? The one where Daniel smiles at you and you feel like the world is okay and you’re going to be happy and loved for the rest of your days?

This smile was Max’s favourite.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you v much for reading, I hope you enjoyed. 
> 
> Kudos and comments are always appreciated and I love to chat with you readers, your excitement for these stories is what makes them such a joy to write. 
> 
> Tumblr is available at 3303andmore if you want sneak peeks at my fics / what’s going on in me noggin / to see me make memes about my writing.
> 
> I'm always super down for prompts, so feel free to drop them down below or at my Tumblr if you wanna keep things anonymous. I take pretty much anything (I'll always let you know if it's something im either a) not comfortable writing, or b) down for but may take a while due to not being sure about it) 
> 
> :D


	6. You’re mine, I don’t share

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Max likes it when Daniel gets possessive. 
> 
> Daniel doesn't like it when Max gets too close to pretty Monègasque boys.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> is this really me writing this?? have I actually written a fic that is under 2k words?! who knew I was capable of it bc I definitely didn't lol
> 
> literally just sat down at my computer and wrote this in like two hours so hope you enjoy it my dudes
> 
> something a little bit different from me, a bit more cheeky and these boys have a lot of fun together
> 
> ALSO MAX ISN'T A SAD BOY IN THIS ONE PLEASE BE PROUD OF ME FOR NOT TORTURING HIM FOR ONCE haha

Daniel adored Max. Loved him with his entire heart. He couldn’t imagine being with anyone but Max ever. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with Max, do the whole 2.4 kids and the white picket fence and the growing old sitting on rocking chairs on the deck of a house on the farm that Daniel always dreamed of. 

Max was everything that Daniel had ever dreamt of in a lover. He was funny, courageous, adored racing, absolutely gorgeous, amazing in bed, was adorable with little kids, and he was always willing to try. 

Well that last one wasn’t entirely true. There was a reason Max never went surfboarding or ate seafood or went to the insects area in the zoo. There was a lot of things Max wasn’t willing to try. 

So maybe Daniel should re-evaluate that to he was willing to try like 75% of the time. 

But either way, Max was perfect. He had that good balance of being fierce on the track with also being a good guy to have around, and the other drivers loved him now. Kimi would deliberately knock Max’s hat off to ruffle his hair, Sebastian would straighten Max’s shirt (no matter how much Max tried to stop him), Lando would huddle into Max when the whole idea of being a driver got a bit too scary, Pierre and Alex had come to Max more often than not terrified about driving a Red Bull only for Max to get all protective little brother on them and tell them that they were going to be okay, that he had their back. 

With Charles it was different. 

The media had been hyping up a bitter rivalry between Max and Charles since what seemed like the minute Charles was announced as Ferrari’s 2019 driver, and aside from some fierce battles on the track (and that now infamous photo of Charles glaring at Max after Max had stole his win in Austria), the two prodigies actually got along pretty well. 

Daniel wouldn’t say they were mates or anything, but they got along and they’d happily chat to each other. Sometimes it was awkward and Daniel had been a buffer between them more than once when a bad race (*cough*Austria*cough*) had ended in a way that one of them hadn’t liked, but most of the time they were at least friendly with each other. 

He’d seen Charles and Max laughing together more than once, and he’d laughed himself when he heard Max whip out his knowledge of flags to make small talk with Charles on the grid during the Singapore Grand Prix. Max’s love of flags still made Daniel laugh no matter how confused he was. 

But Daniel had seen the way Charles’ eyes lingered on Max, watching his lips as he talked and giggling at him. 

Giggling.

This was _Charles Leclerc_ and he was giggling?!

Max was funny, Daniel knew that. But Charles was acting like Max was a comedic genius and Max always seemed to get a bit brighter and bolder after Charles’ precious little giggling session. 

Daniel had watched the way Charles’ hand lingered on Max’s back when they hugged, had seen the way their easy non-matey camaraderie seemed to fall more flirtatious and Daniel had to remind himself that he couldn't let the green mist take over. 

He couldn’t kill Charles.

He’d promised Jules he’d take care of him.

But if Charles didn’t take his _fucking_ hands off of Max’s shoulders he was going to break every little bone in Charles’ hands. 

Well he wouldn’t.

But he’d dream about it. 

Max was his. And Daniel didn’t share. 

Daniel had a burning need to show everyone that Max Verstappen was his. Fuck the media. Fuck the contracts. Fuck what everyone would think. 

Max Verstappen was his boyfriend. And he’d prove it to whoever he needed to. 

They were in some club in Monaco, celebrating the end of the season the right way now that they were in a place that they could actually drink alcohol when it happened. The place was dark, offering the anonymity they all craved sometimes. 

His body was vibrating with the pulsing tones of the music, hitting every inch of his body and thrumming through it. 

But nothing was radiating through him more than pure jealously and possessiveness. 

Max had dived off almost as soon as they’d gotten their drinks, his own held loosely in his fingers as he danced. 

Pre’s had been pretty wild. It was the first time they’d brought the rookies with them, and drinking game were always a must. Lando, bless his soul, had suffered through a glass of something whilst George and Alex had been pretty comfortable to just neck their drinks and get refills, and now that they'd reached the club, the rookies were holed up together, Lando sandwiched between George and Alex as the three of them lost themselves in each other. Max started the night sticking near them for a while, keeping an eye on them and making sure they were staying safe and having fun.

But now he wasn’t. 

Now his back was pressed against Charles _fucking_ Leclerc’s front, with his head thrown back onto Charles’ shoulder and the Monègasque teasingly running his fingers along the waistband of Max’s incredibly tight jeans.

Max knew precisely what he was doing. And it only further infuriated Daniel. 

He’d been the recipient of a number of cheeky and playful smirks, almost as though he was daring Daniel to do something. To grab him and stake his claim, to tell everyone in the world that Max Verstappen was his. 

Daniel clenched his jaw, his teeth grinding together would've been painful if he wasn’t so focused on ripping Max out of Charles’ arms and into his own. 

Max was a cheeky, infuriating, snarky little bastard. 

And Daniel fucking loved it.

He leant against the barriers separating the raised bar area from the dance floor. Max and Charles looked godlike under the white spotlight, their bodies melding together as they lost themselves to each other, grinding against one another and running their hands across wherever the other could reach. Charles’ fingers hooked through the loops of Max’s jeans, pulling him back even harder and mouthing teasingly at his neck. 

Max didn’t take his eyes of Daniel the entire time.

And then he did. 

Charles hit the spot that Daniel _knew_ was Max’s sensitive spot. It was the spot just below his right ear, that sweet spot where his jaw ended and made way for pure flesh. Every single time Daniel’s even brushed his lips against it, Max’s eyes would drop shut and he’d gasp and moan and writhe against whatever his body was against. 

And that’s precisely what he did to Charles. 

Red and green flashed before Daniel’s eyes and he dropped his bottle onto a counter. He didn’t care about the alcohol. Didn’t need it. 

He needed to get his boy back in his arms and prove to the world that _he_ was the only one who could do that to Max Verstappen. 

Because Max Verstappen was his boy. 

He wasn’t Charles fucking Leclerc’s.

He was Daniel’s.

Daniel pushed his way bodily through the crowds, ignoring the protests as people were moved. Everyone’s eyes had been on the show Max and Charles were putting on, and it was time that Daniel ended it. 

He couldn’t blame them for looking. 

His boyfriend was the most stunning thing there, the way his body loosened and his brain just stopped and he let the music guide him was breathtaking.

Watching him dance with his pretty little rival-but-not-rival-but-not-friend shouldn’t have been breathtaking. Because Max didn’t belong to Charles. 

Daniel pushed himself through the last of the crowd, and Max barely had chance to open his eyes before Daniel yanked him forward, his hands going low on Max’s body and pulling their hips together. Max moaned loudly into Daniel’s mouth and writhed against him, putting on another show that Daniel knew was just for Charles. Daniel kissed Max deeply, not even bothering to see who was watching or caring. They could be live-streaming to every corner of the world and Daniel didn’t care. 

He didn’t share his belongings with others. Max was his and his alone. 

Their teeth clashed and their tongues tied as Daniel took control, Max becoming almost boneless, only the strength of Daniel’s arms keeping him up. Daniel bit against Max’s lip and pulled back, mouthing up his neck to hit that spot Charles had. This time, the vibrations of Max’s moan was entirely Daniel’s. 

Daniel didn’t take his eyes off Charles the entire time. 

This was his boy. Not Ferrari’s golden boy’s new plaything. Max was his. And he’d prove it a million times over if he had to. 

Daniel bit down on the spot, soothingly running his tongue and lips over it as the bruise already started to make its way to the surface. 

Max was a writhing mess against him, begging Daniel to just get on with it, to take him home, to have his way with him. But Daniel knew he couldn’t. Not yet. 

He threaded his hand into Max’s hair and pulled. That was Max’s other major weakness. Touch his hair and he was yours. 

Daniel pulled his head enough that Max’s neck was bent backwards and he had to look up at Daniel through hooded eyes. His chest was heaving and his eyes were dark. Those ocean blues Daniel loved so much were gone, only a slither of it reminded, outlining the endless darkness of Max’s arousal. 

“You’re mine, I don’t share.” Daniel reminded him darkly, tightening his grip on Max’s hair when all he got in reply was a smirk. 

“Might have to remind me again,” Max replied breathily, “Charles was a pretty good dancer.”

Daniel pulled him forward, biting down on Max’s lips and silencing him. Kissing Max was the best experience of his life, and Daniel loved it. Max was probably the most responsive partner he’d ever had and Daniel couldn’t get enough of it.

Max tucked his arms around Daniel, dropping his hands into the back pockets of Daniel’s jeans and giggling against his lips. 

“I love you,” Max murmured, pulling back just enough, “No one but you. I’m yours.”

“You’re mine, baby, always mine.” Daniel replied, pressing the only gentle kiss of the night to Max’s lips, “Love you, sweetheart.”

Max smiled at him, and then let the rough fight of their lips against each other’s continue. 

Charles vanished at some point, but they didn’t care anymore. They never did. He was just a ploy for Max to get this. Daniel’s possessive nature was one of the things Max loved most. He always felt safe in Daniel’s love and he could never love anyone the way he loved Daniel. It was fun to dance with others, to wind Daniel up and have his eyes impossibly darken to the point that Max thought he was part demon. But he loved it. There was nothing better. 

Daniel was his. He was Daniel’s. And that was all he wanted and needed from life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr available at 3303andmore
> 
> I hope you liked this, comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated!
> 
> Feedback is more than welcome and I am always up for any writing prompts that you wanna drop or even just tell me what you think, it makes me happy :)


	7. You're so fucking adorable

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daniel's avoiding Max and then when Max finds out why, he proves to his boyfriend just how much he loves him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I say this every time but this is entirely a self-indulgent 'I want more Daniel in glasses' content so I wrote it lol genuinely love glasses and as a 24/7 glasses wearer myself, I gotta get that representation
> 
> also I dunno why my last two chapters have been a bit more sexual in nature lately but I aint mad about it, it's character growth lol
> 
> ALSO I started back at uni today, so pls keep me in your thoughts whilst I complain every single second of the day about how tired I am and how much I want my degree to be done with even tho I love it a lot lol

For some reason, Daniel was avoiding Max, and Max really had no idea why. 

Daniel had told him that he had an appointment and he’d see Max after it, but that had been nearly a week ago and aside from texts and phone calls, Daniel had definitely been avoiding Max. So unless Daniel had done something absolutely catastrophically bad, Max didn’t know why he was being avoided. And even if he had done something absolutely catastrophically bad, Max still loved him. Daniel was still the love of his life. It couldn’t be anything _that bad_. 

Right?

And so Max did what he always did. He made the first move. 

He knew if he told Daniel he’d come over and see him, Daniel would mysteriously vanish from his apartment (and probably curse the entire time that he’d given Max a key to it), and Max would be none the wiser as to why his beautiful boyfriend was ignoring / hiding from him. Instead, on his way back from his run, Max made the decision to drop by and see Daniel. 

And Daniel could never deny Max anything when he was all hot and sweaty. 

Max knocked three times, waited for a second, then knocked once more. It was the knock he and Daniel always did to each other for some reason and the habit had stuck. There was no way that Daniel wouldn’t know it was him. 

When the door opened, Max looked him over. 

“So you’ve still got all your limbs and your hair is still there and you’ve still got a beard. Want to tell me why you’re avoiding me?” Max said, raising an eyebrow and shuffling past Daniel into the apartment. 

“Just been busy, ‘tis all.”

“Yeah no, I don’t believe you.”

Daniel laughed and crossed the short distance to pull Max against him. 

“Baby, nothing is wrong. You don’t need to worry about anything.”

“Why are you avoiding me then?” Max knew he sounded like a petulant teenager, and he was close to stomping his foot in protest.

“Max, love, I’ve just been busy.”

“But you always come for a run with me...” Max whimpered, jutting out his bottom lip and making his eyes wide and watery. He wasn’t actually upset. But he knew Daniel was keeping something from him, he was being too elusive, too touchy, keeping Max in one space and he was twitchy. All tell-tale signs that something was up. 

The mask worked and Daniel’s eyes immediately widened, tugging Max into him and hugging him tightly. 

“I know baby, I know. Please don’t be upset, I promise you it’s not you. You’ve not done anything.”

Max wrapped his arms around Daniel’s waist and rest his head on Daniel’s shoulder. His eyes were flicking around the apartment, looking for anything that could tell him why Daniel was acting strange, when his eyes fell on them. 

The tortoise shell glasses chucked on a stack on paperwork on the coffee table and Daniel’s favourite pen sitting beside them. 

A pair of glasses that Max knew he’d never seen his boyfriend wear before. 

Max pulled back from Daniel and smiled, stealing a kiss and then extracting himself from Daniel’s arms. He could feel Daniel itching to pull him back, to keep him from exploring further into his apartment, but Max kept going, wondering lazily. 

Daniel swooped in front of him, and held his hands up.

“Why don’t we go shower? You’re all sweaty.”

“Never bothered you before,” Max replied, cheekily swaying his hips as he pushed past Daniel and towards the seating area “In fact I distinctly remember numerous times when I’ve come back even sweatier than this, and this very couch played host to us.”

Daniel grabbed Max’s wrist and spun him around again, tugging him back into his chest but Max pulled himself free and kept walking.

“Yeah I remember babe, but the shower has also been a good friend of ours as well, so why don’t we-“

“Or we could do it on the coffee table again, you loved that last time.”

“I really think the shower is-“

“And I know you like having me under you, I think the table is the best option.”

“Max please.”

“Or you could just tell me why there’s a pair of glasses on the table that you’re clearly trying to have me avoid noticing.” Max said, finally turning to look at Daniel and seeing the guilty expression written across his face. 

“You saw.”

“Yep. Want to explain?”

“It’s not what it looks like.”

“I’m pretty sure you can’t tell me what it looks like, that's why they're over there. Unless they are actually some secret lover’s of yours that you’re cheating on me with.”

Daniel’s shoulders sagged, until he looked up at Max.

“You know I’d never cheat on you.”

“So why won’t you just admit that the glasses are yours?” Max asked carefully, picking them up and looking at them.

The frames were pretty standard, similar to ones that Max had seen his sister’s boyfriend wear plenty of times. And Max had no idea why Daniel was scared of Max knowing. They were just glasses. 3/4 of the worlds population wore them, it wasn’t a big issue.

“Max, baby, please, just give them here.”

Max handed them over without a fight and he watched Daniel quickly snap the arms in and tuck them into his hoodie pouch. 

“You know it’s fine, right?”

“Max just shut up about it, Jesus Christ.”

Max stared at Daniel, taken aback by the anger in his voice. 

“Dan?” 

Daniel turned his back to Max, his entire body heaving with the deep breaths he was taking. 

“Daniel, what’s wrong? Talk to me.” Max murmured, pressing his face between Daniel’s shoulder blades and cuddling Daniel to him. 

“I’m old.”

Max looked up sharply, taking in the insecure lines of Daniel’s shoulders and how strongly he was holding himself to avoid shaking. 

“I mean, no? You’re 30 years old Daniel, it’s not old.” Max said, rubbing his hand across Daniel’s front.

“And you’re 22. With your perfect fucking vision.”

“So? Daniel, it’s fine, it’s just glasses.” Max told him, sliding round so that he could look at Daniel. 

“It’s not just glasses, Max. It’s another reminder that I’m getting old, I can’t do this forever. You’re so young, Max. You could have anyone.” Daniel told him, and Max could see the upset bleeding through.

“I don’t want anyone. I want you.” Max replied, reaching in and taking the glasses out of Daniel’s pouch, unfolding them and carefully balancing them on Daniel’s face. “See, perfect. That’s my beautiful boyfriend.”

“I hate them.”

“That’s a shame,” Max shrugged, “because, honestly, you’re so fucking adorable in them.”

Daniel stared at Max for a moment, almost as though he was trying to see how sincere Max was being. 

“You mean that?”

“Well, in your hoodie you’re adorable. If you wear a shirt with those, I’m definitely going to calling you fucking hot. Because you are. I like them. You look good in them. They suit you.”

“I don’t know, I can’t get used to them. I only need them to see close up anyway, they won’t affect the driving.”

“Close up, hmm?” Max grinned slyly, and Daniel nodded with a frown, not knowing where Max was going with this.

“How close we talking?”

“Like a metre and a half? Just a bit more than reading distance I guess?” Daniel shrugged.

“So say I did this,” Max murmured, dropping to his knees in front of Daniel, “Can you still see me?”

“Clear as day.” Daniel replied, and Max grinned. 

“Good, cause you’re about to see just how much I like you in those glasses.”

Daniel smiled back, but Max could see the hints of insecurity lingering. So he did what he did best. 

He showed Daniel just how much he loved him. And how much Daniel in those glasses definitely turned him on.

Later on, both of them with heaving chests and the bed sheets draped leisurely over their naked bodies, Max turned onto his front and crossed his arms over Daniel’s stomach. Daniel was looking down at him fondly, rubbing his fingers through Max’s hair. He had nothing but the glasses on, and Max honestly thought it was one of the most beautiful sights he’d ever been blessed to witness. 

The brown frames amplified the beauty of Daniel’s eyes, bringing out the rich darkness of his eyes and the flecks of gold that were dispersed through them.

“Believe me now?” Max whispered, kissing Daniel’s hip. 

“After your performances in the hallway and in bed? Yeah, I’m inclined to believe that you fucking love the glasses.”

“No,” Max shook his head, “I love you in the glasses.”

Daniel grinned at Max.

“I love you too, angel.”

“I think they make you look very sophisticated.” Max joked, and Daniel threw his head back onto the pillow. 

“You’re never going to let that go, are you?” Daniel laughed. 

“Never. And I’m never going to let you go. No matter how old you get.” Max told him, pulling himself up and pressing a lingering kiss to Daniel’s lips. 

“You’re sappy today.” Daniel said, but he was smiling as he said it and Max knew it was simply a way for Daniel to hide his relief.

“Yeah, probably because I spend so much time with an old man, makes you sappy I guess.” Max murmured back, before laughing at the mock-outrage on Daniel’s face.

“I’ll show you an old man you cheeky little bastard.” Daniel growled, rolling Max onto his back and straddling his waist. 

And when Daniel dipped his head down to kiss Max, and his glasses slipped slightly but he didn’t take any notice, Max knew he’d done the right thing. 

And turns out having a glasses kink was something Max definitely had but never knew about. Maybe that old saying of ‘you learn something knew every day’ also applied to learning what you loved about your boyfriend. 

Max had hated school, but this was the kind of learning that he could definitely get behind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr available at 3303andmore
> 
> I hope you liked this, comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated!
> 
> Feedback is more than welcome and I am always up for any writing prompts that you wanna drop or even just tell me what you think, it makes me happy :)


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